The number of letters sent via Chunghwa Post Co in May was the lowest in six years as fewer people are using postal services due to technology that lets people communicate quickly, the postal service said.
Chunghwa Post has served the Republic of China since the beginning of the 20th century. Taiwan’s highest number of sent items was in 2000, with 387.8 million letters sent, an average of about 139 letters per person.
The amount of mail has since dropped continuously and averaged 9.5 pieces of mail per person in May, the state-run company said.
Most of its business is being propped up by large government agencies or corporate companies that mail en masse, it said, adding it was facing a price reduction among private competitors in recent years while its client base was shrinking due to use of electronic methods.
The company said that proof of payment by insurance companies, shareholder notices, notices of public listings from corporations and notifications from the department of motor vehicles (DMV) have all discontinued mailing services, adding that most of these companies send notices via e-mail or social apps.
Technology is endangering the traditional postal service and a solution is needed, the company said.
“The company’s current situation is a far cry from its heyday when stores petitioned to have a mailbox on their doorstep, which would bring in customers and create an alternate source of income by selling postage stamps,” Chunghwa Post official Lin Huang-cheng (林煌城) said.
Stores are now petitioning to have mailboxes removed, saying they block access, he said.
Chunghwa Post estimated that there are 11,456 mailboxes across the nation, the style of which — green for normal and local post and red for airmail or prompt delivery — was set in 1973. At its peak there were 16,000 mailboxes across the nation.
Northern Taiwan Postal Workers Union president Cheng Kuang-ming (鄭光明) said he had worked at the Taipei City Shihlin Post Office since 1980, saying that he would never forget the amount of mail sent during the Christmas season and at the end of the year.
The boxes were filled to bursting every day and the office had to transport the mail in large trucks, Cheng said, adding, however, that mailboxes had faced an existential crisis five years ago when the Taipei City Government mulled the viability of taxing the company for “affecting scenery.”
“A mailman can never forget the expression of joy on lovers’ faces when they receive a letter from their sweethearts, or the expression of satisfaction when parents receive mail from their children,” said an elderly mailman who declined to be named.
“Traditional mail still has its allure, which can never be replaced by its technological successor; the post service should be cherished,” he said.
The mailman added he full-heartedly supports endeavors by the company to innovate its processes and said he hoped it would help the public to see mailboxes in a new light.
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